1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to refrigerated beverage dispensing apparatus, and, more particularly to a thermoelectric wine bag cooler/dispenser powered by household current having a cabinet that sits on a countertop or other flat surface and which includes a thermoelectric cooling system and at least one compartment that receives a removable bag support housing containing a collapsible flexible wine-filled bag from a “bag-in-box” wine container and its dispensing valve and the temperature of each compartment is individually controlled.
2. Background Art
Many liquids are susceptible to deterioration upon exposure to oxygen. Among these, wines are particularly vulnerable to rapid oxidation due their basic chemistry. To prevent this condition, most commercial wineries fill the container under vacuum or by sparging with an inert gas to exclude the oxygen. This precaution is further complicated by the use of closures, i.e. natural cork, which are susceptible to oxygen intrusion or other containments such as trichloroanisole (TCA). Even with these precautions, when the container is subsequently opened, oxygen intrusion immediately occurs and begins the process of oxidation and spoilage and the remaining product rapidly degrades/spoils.
“Bag-in-box” wines, wherein the wine is contained in a collapsible a vacuum-sealed plastic bag inside a cardboard or paperboard box and dispensed through a valve at the bottom of the container, and typically closed with a plastic cap, addresses both problems (oxygen intrusion and closure), and are becoming increasingly popular with consumers. “Bag-in-box” wine is not subject to cork taint or spoilage, even after the wine has been opened. Once open, a box preserves wine for about four weeks compared with only a day or two for a bottle after it has been uncorked. “Bag-in-box” wines also have environmental and economic benefits because they require less energy to produce and transport, and are fully recyclable, yielding less packaging waste.
Most wines should also be kept at a constant temperature in the 40° to 60° range and are often stored in a refrigerator. However, keeping wine in a refrigerator can have its drawbacks, since the wine takes up a considerable amount of space and it is necessary to open and close the refrigerator door regularly, which decreases the interior temperature of the refrigerator.
There are several patents directed toward various apparatus for cooling and dispensing various beverages such as wine, some of which accommodate “bag-in-box” containers.
Crossley et al, U.S. Pat. No. 7,464,567 discloses a non-electric apparatus for cooling and dispensing wine from a wine-filled bag of a prepackaged “bag-in-box” wine box, generally comprising an insulated parallelepiped box with molded handles, an upper front panel and a lower front panel with semi-circular notches forming a circle into which the wine tap for such wine-filled may be locked into place for dispensing wine, and a drip reservoir. This apparatus does not utilize thermoelectric cooling. Instead, one embodiment employs a cold or frozen freezable liquid pack placed on each side of the wine-filled bag, while another embodiment provides freezable, liquid-filled side, top, and rear panels. Thus, the user freeze the liquid packs or liquid-filled side, top, and rear panels prior to using the apparatus, and there is no provisiona for adjusting the temperature.
Mullen, U.S. Pat. No. 7,076,966 discloses a refrigerated liquid dispensing system includes a cabinet having a refrigerated compartment. At least one liquid container such as a water bottle is mounted in a receptacle in the compartment. A valve is mounted to the neck of the bottle for controlling the flow of liquid from the bottle. In one practice of the invention the valve is actuated by a spring plunger mounted to the door of the compartment so that the valve can be actuated without opening the door to dispense water from a valve stem into a cup in a cup holder area below the compartment. In a further practice of the invention the valve is actuated by opening the door and acting directly on the valve. When the door opens a valve extension automatically slides outwardly so that a dispensing opening in the valve extension is disposed against a cup in the cup holder area.
Williamson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,043 discloses a self-contained portable non-electric beverage dispensing system which utilizes ice as the cooling medium, and includes a housing having an interior space. A first cooling well for containing ice is defined in the interior space of the housing for pre-cooling of a beverage within a beverage container, and a second cooling well for receiving ice is defined in the interior space of the housing for cooling the beverage after it leaves the beverage container. A tank mounting structure is disposed within the interior space of the housing for holding a propellant gas-supply tank, which is used to pressurize the beverage container. The two separate cooling wells enhance the cooling of the beverage that is being dispensed.
Bedard, U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,625 discloses a juice dispensing apparatus designed for dispensing packaged “not from concentrate” juice from a rectangular paperboard “bag-in-box” container, the apparatus having a compartment in which the paperboard box containing the bag is mounted, a thermoelectric device for cooling the compartment and a piezoelectric device for agitating the juice in the bag to maintain the juice in a suspension. The box has a cutout in its bottom wall such that the bag rests on the piezoelectric agitating member and juice is dispensed from the bottom of the bag through a spigot and flexible discharge tube threaded through an aperture and a plunger of an electric actuator pinches the tube between a stop surface to control flow of juice from the tube. Alternatively, a spigot in the form of a valve is provided that has a pair of ears which may be lifted upwardly to permit the dispensing of the juice. A thermoelectric device is mounted between an inner back wall and a dividing wall of the compartment and a cold heat sink associated with the thermoelectric device is mounted interiorly of the container receiving compartment and a hot heat sink is mounted in a channel between an exterior rear wall the dividing wall. A pair of lower fans are mounted in the lower portion of dividing wall and a pair of upper fans are mounted in an upper portion of the dividing wall. The lower fans take air from under the bottom portion of the dispensing apparatus and pass it upwardly past the hot heat sink to exit from vent apertures formed in a gable top end of the apparatus. This apparatus is not particularly thermally efficient because the cold heat sink is in direct contact with the paperboard material of the box surrounding the bag to protect the bag during shipping and storage also forms an insulated barrier surrounding the bag.
Shirley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,341 discloses a refrigerated dispensing unit comprising a cabinet which receives one or more rectangular cardboard boxes of “bag-in-box” containers of the type having a dispensing valve projecting outwardly therefrom for dispensing liquid from the container. The door enclosing the cabinet and container is pivotally mounted and has one or more apertures therein including a deformable gasket to receive and releasably engage the dispensing valve on the container when the door is closed. The refrigerating apparatus is only described as a “conventional refrigerating apparatus” contained in the lower portion of the cabinet, and the refrigerating apparatus is not shown or described in detail. This device is not particularly thermally efficient because the cardboard material of the box that protects the bag during shipping and storage forms an insulated barrier surrounding the bag. Also, it is well known in the art, that cold air sinks while hot air rises, because cold temperatures causes the air molecules to come closer together and this makes it more dense or heavier; thus, placing the refrigerating apparatus in the lower portion of the cabinet beneath the container is counter productive to efficient cooling.
Curcio, U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,054 discloses a picnic cooler box having insulated compartments for containing food, ice, and water and additionally having syrup containers with dispensing spigots for the syrup, as well as dispensing spigots for the melted ice of the ice container and the water container.